


The Great Dorayaki Debate of 777

by lady_peony



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Convenience Store, Comedy, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Mascots, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:29:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29440470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_peony/pseuds/lady_peony
Summary: Before putting it on, Akira had examined the costume head in his hands with a careful eye.Prince Capy's eyes had a bright, good-natured look. A gently-cheerful smile, combined together with cartoon-style pink cheeks emphasizes his friendly nature. A dorayaki hat—decoration?—rested on top of his head.Prince Capy's body was made of light brown fur, decorated with a cape around his neck. The fabric of it veered more towards a humble burgundy than a brighter red."Thank you for the dorayaki!" another elementary school kid said, taking one of the samples from Akira's hand. The kid pushed a paper into the box by Akira's elbow, with a big checkmark next to the line that read 'Yes! Prince Capy should be the newest friend of 777's delicious dorayaki!"
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 6
Kudos: 52
Collections: 21 plus akeshuake server valentines 2021 event





	The Great Dorayaki Debate of 777

**Author's Note:**

> For the 21+ akeshuake valentine's day event!
> 
> Sunday 02/14-White Chocolate  
>  **Prompt created:**  
>  **Flavor-Comedy/Chocolate Coating-AU**
> 
> pls enjoy this entertaining nonsense

The shift at Triple Seven on that Tuesday hadn't been too out of the ordinary for Akira.

He had checked out the usual lines of customers that had come in; the young elementary students buying snacks and brightly-wrapped sweets; the harried office workers picking up a quick bento; and the elderly customers dropping by for a pack or two of dried sardines or sweet umeboshi.

One of his colleagues, Nanami-san, had just finished sweeping the floor between the shelves and was now stacking up boxes of rice crackers, sweet wafer cookies, Country Ma'am cookies, and assorted chips against a wall for restocking the next day.

Then his manager, Hara-san, had walked in. 

He was still as pleasant and genial as the day he first interviewed Akira for the convenience store position—Hara-san's generally placid expression and mild personality gave him an easy, approachable air for both his customers and employees. 

And Hara-san also had a giant box pulled in on a wheeled cart behind him. 

Akira looked at Nanami-san, who had shrugged. Seemed like she didn't know what was going on either.

"Well," Hara-san said, after clearing his throat. He clapped his hands together, once. "Very exciting news for us all! The higher-ups have an opportunity for one of us today. Is anybody interested—" he opened the box, freeing something from its flaps—"in playing the part of Prince Capy for the next month?"

Akira and Nanami blinked.

What the manager was holding was a large costume head, shaped like a smiling capybara.   
  


* * *

  
  
"The pay will be higher that shift," Hara-san added, a beat later.

Akira thought about that, calculating his savings. He was weighing in his head the cost of the limited Gray Pigeon Featherman figurine (accessorized with a miniature light-up Feathernix Saber!) that Futaba had been eyeing for the last two weeks.

He had been slowly saving up for a gift for her birthday soon—it was what—coming up in four more weeks—somewhere in February?

Yeah, sure, he thinks Boss would be happy to pay him a little more at Leblanc if Akira mentioned what he was going to use that money for, but knowing that Boss would definitely also get Futaba a gift would kind of make Akira feel a little guilty, like both of Futaba's gifts were being bought with Boss's money.

Regardless, it wasn't like Akira didn't have other options for earning some extra money in a spot like Tokyo.

Akira raised his hand, when the manager had blinked, looking between Nanami and Akira.

"I'll do it," Akira said firmly.

"Excellent of you to volunteer, Akira-kun," Hara-san had said. "I think you should be about the right height for the costume, but let me know if we need to ship it back for some quick adjustments. Take this pamphlet with you after today—it'll have important info on what's expected of the mascot representing this brand during this time."  
  


* * *

  
  
Akira took the pamphlet home with him, after he had finished his shift, and tucked Morgana into his schoolbag. 

Laying back in his bed in the attic, he held up the pamphlet and flipped it open to the first page—

A name—'Prince Capy'—was emblazoned on the top, in English, instead of the expected katakana or hirigana. Immediately below that, it was followed by a short profile— 

_Prince Capy was born in a humble village._

_In an area blessed with fair weather and good soil, Capy's family and neighbors had been adzuki farmers for generations. The village was renowned also for its special dorayaki products, which never failed to make any visitor smile upon trying this delicious snack._

_Prince Capy was not actually a prince. He was just so kind and well-mannered that everyone else in the village nicknamed him as 'Prince Capy.'_

_This capybara always carries a dorayaki on his head to split in half with any friends that he may meet! Besides sharing snacks, he also enjoys naps in the sunshine and soaks in the hot springs while daydreaming about traveling to fantastic places._   
  


* * *

  
That was how two days later, Akira found himself dressed up as Prince Capy, standing outside of his usual 777, in front of a table with stacks of the dorayaki snack he was meant to promote.

The story was this: 

Last winter, after some kind of acquisition agreement was sealed and stamped by their higher ups, Triple Seven had gained a new subsidiary food company. This small food company specialized in the production of packaged sweet goods, like baumkuchen and castella. 

And dorayaki, apparently. 

Looking to expand the sales of their dorayaki line, 777 had then decided on the idea of printing a cute animal mascot on the front of every round of dorayaki. 

What 777 hadn't fully decided on was which animal to print—hence, the decision to do a little market testing in this area of Tokyo to discover the most appealing mascot. 

Akira was told there might be other different mascots at different 777 locations, but the one their particular store had been assigned was the Prince Capy character.

Children did seem to like his look. 

Before putting on Prince Capy's head, Akira had examined the costume head in his hands with a careful eye. 

Prince Capy's eyes had a bright, good-natured look. A gently-cheerful smile, combined together with cartoon-style pink cheeks emphasizes his friendly nature. A dorayaki hat—decoration?—rested on top of his head. 

Prince Capy's body was made of light brown fur, decorated with a cape around his neck. The fabric of it veered more towards a humble burgundy than a brighter red.

"Thank you for the dorayaki!" another elementary school kid said, taking one of the samples from Akira's hand. The kid pushed a paper into the box by Akira's elbow, with a big checkmark next to the line that read ' _Yes! Prince Capy should be the newest friend of 777's delicious dorayaki_!"

Akira couldn't say much in return—what noises _did_ a capybara make? He should really look that up when he gets back to Leblanc. Instead, he waved a paw at the kid as they hurried off, and repeated one of the catchphrases from the pamphlet as brightly as he could. "Sure! Don't forget, share a dorayaki with your friends!"

When Akira had finished his homework that evening, and had petted the napping Morgana on his chest, he was now about 6000 yen richer, which took him that much closer to that Gray Pigeon Featherman figurine.

Not a bad day, all in all.  
  


* * *

  
The next day is a slightly different story.

First, during his afternoon class, Mr. Ushimaru had sent a piece of chalk flying into his forehead after Akira had incorrectly answered a question about the responsibilities of the Imperial Household Agency.

Second, a rowdy handful of basketball team members had accidentally bumped into Akira from behind when they charged down the stairs towards practice, causing him to drop the stack of library books that he had been planning to return all over the steps.

Third, Akira had ended up meeting his rival during his 777 shift.

Though the 777 Akira worked at after school was right in the middle of the thoroughfare of Shibuya Central, there was also a second 777 just right across the street from them, taking up a big slice of space to the left of the Big Bang Burger restaurant.

Akira wasn't too sure how it the store locations ended up that way—it might have something to do with the direction and flow of crowds out of multiple train station exits in that part of Shibuya, or the way business permits had been allocated by city authorities. 

But— back to his rival.

So in front of the second 777 that day, through the eye holes of Prince Capy's head, what Akira saw was— 

A large bunny. 

It was about as tall as Prince Capy. The bunny's design was cute—that Akira could admit, in a similar manner that Prince Capy's design was.

The bunny had upright ears, sticking out a light straw hat, like the kind one might see in old samurai movies. Its fur was dark, a smooth spill of black ink with blue undertones in the light, save for the circular white patch on its nose and mouth. 

It carried in one of its paws a stick, with a green bag hanging from one end.

Unlike Prince Capy's happy expression though, the bunny's face was more— 

Hm. 

Furious?

No. That wasn't quite right— 

It was very close to the >:( face, if he had to describe it in text.

Though the actual mood did look a little angry, the expression itself reminded Akira of the teen heroes on the cover of Jump, before they decided to dive into the thick of danger to save their most important friend, or to take the last step of their revenge, depending on the series' genre.

The signboard the bunny held up read:  
 _"Pick Umaisagi! Let's share a dorayaki that reminds you of home!"_

So, Umaisagi must be that mascot's name, Akira thought.

Akira kept on waving his own signboard and looking at the passerbys heading their way.

The message on Akira's signboard simply read:  
 _"Pick Prince Capy! Let's share a dorayaki and become friends!"_

Sometimes the pedestrians went towards Prince Capy's table. Sometimes, they went towards Umaisagi's table.

" _Thank you, Prince Capy!_ " Akira would hear sporadically, and the passerbys' footsteps would venture away further into Tokyo's streets.

Akira felt a presence behind him, as he was clearing up the dorayaki packets. 

It was a little hard cleaning up the table with Prince Capy's paws, which looked cute on the costume but were not especially designed for flexible mobility.

Akira turned around. 

Saw the bunny looking his way.

And on the bunny's signboard was written—" _How many_?"

How many?

Akira opened the box on his table, stuffed full with the slips of paper from customers who had voted for Prince Capy as the new mascot, and leafed through them.

Akira uncapped a marker, and scribbled on his signboard, before flipping it towards the bunny: " _55 votes. How about you?_ "

The bunny tilted its head. 

Somehow, Akira felt, its focus on him seemed to have increased to a terrifying extent.

The bunny placed down its own signboard on its table, and wrote something else, before hefting it up to Akira' view:

The first side of its signboard read: " _42 votes_."

Then the signboard flipped around, with its second side showing:  
" _Speak of tomorrow and the rats in the ceiling will laugh._ "

Oh? A challenge? 

Behind the head of the Prince Capy costume, Akira's lips pulled up, without conscious intent, into a smile.  
  


* * *

  
The next time Akira sees the rabbit mascot, tallying down their competition votes at the end of the shift had become something of a ritual.

Two days later—  
 **Prince Capy's signboard:** 33.  
 **Umaisagi's signboard:** 29.

One week later—  
 **Prince Capy:** 18  
 **Umaisagi:** 24

Twelve days later—  
 **Prince Capy:** 37  
 **Umaisagi:** 46

It took around three weeks before Akira had his first glimpse of his rival's face.

They had written down their numbers to wave at each other from across the block, as usual. Then the bunny had set down its signboard. Propped open the door of the rival 777 location.

And _removed the head of its costume._

The person Akira saw—

The person under the Umaisagi costume had a beautiful face.

He looked like a student, close to Akira's age perhaps—though it was not a face he believed he had seen around Shujin.

His hair, even after being trapped beneath the heat of the costume head, still fell around his face in an attractively disheveled way. A few strands of light brown bangs fall over his forehead—the longest ends of his hair extend just a little past his ears over his nape.

The arch of his nose and his brow had a certain delicacy to them, as if they had been drawn with a sweeping stroke of a calligraphy brush. 

But the quick motions of his hands as he reached out for a water bottle, the sharpness of his gaze, all added a sense of gravity, a deliberate grace to his presence.

Akira swallowed slightly, as the gaze of that boy turned towards him.  
  
The weight of those eyes felt piercing, even masked as Akira was behind Prince Capy's friendly face.  
  


* * *

  
The great 777 dorayaki mascot competition had been going on for almost five weeks.

Akira felt he had gotten pretty good at it now—he had even figured out a trick of juggling packaged dorayaki in his paws, which was an easy crowd-pleaser for many of the kids who had walked by.

Umaisagi too, was standing in his usual spot. Akira grinned behind his costume head. 

The message the other boy had scribbled on his signboard the first time Prince Capy had done his juggling act had been—  
" _I thought you were supposed to be playing the part of a Prince, not a jester. It appears I was mistaken._ "

Akira had wanted to try juggling ten dorayaki packs today, instead of five. But Morgana had protested loudly after Akira had accidentally dropped one too many onions on Morgana's tail yesterday evening while practicing.

Umaisagi was still looking his way. Prince Capy gave him a cheerful wave.

A loud commotion floated over to Akira's ears.

Both he and Umaisagi looked, at the same time, towards the middle of the road.

Two young kids were there, likely around elementary-school age—they were—

Fighting?

The loose crowd of pedestrians that had been moving behind the two children heard the noises of the fight, and stepped back, or took another way down the road.

" _Hey!_ Hey, hey, hey!—" Akira dashed towards the squabbling children as he called out, watching Umaisagi across from him do the same. 

It was a boy and girl. 

The boy had one hand clenched around the girl's right sleeve, and the girl had one fist pulling up the collar of the boy's school jacket, a ferocious scowl on her face.

The boy was closest to Akira. 

"Come on, come on, you should let go—" Akira said, as gently as he could, reaching out to tap the boy's shoulder.

"Not until Mio apologizes first!" the boy shouted.

"Me? Rei is the one who began it—!" The girl was rearing back as she said this, looking like she very much wanted to kick the boy in the ankle.

" _That's. Enough._ "

Akira looked up. The kids did too.

The incongruous growl of a voice in contrast to the bunny mascot costume must have been enough of a shock to the kids to make them stop.

Akira and Umaisagi shot a wordless glance at each other. Akira nodded. 

_I'll talk to the boy. You can talk to Mio._

The children did let each other go then. Akira put a light hand on the boy's shoulder, steering him two, three, five steps away towards Prince Capy's table.

Across the street, Akira could see Umaisagi do the same.

Akira rummaged around the top of the table, before he found some leftover promotional 777 tissue packs.

He crouched down, and held out a tissue pack. "Here," Akira said. "You can use these, first."

The boy sniffled once, and took the tissues. 

After he had wiped away some tears, and dabbed at his forehead, Akira offered him some water. The kid shook his head.

"What's your name?" Akira asked, lightly.

"Reiji," the boy answered, tone somewhat sullen. 

"Ah. Reiji-san." Akira put both his paws on his knees, since he had crouched down again to meet Reiji's eyes. "Can you tell me why you were so upset with your friend?" 

Reiji shook his head, side to side furiously. "Mio-chan _was_ my friend. I think she doesn't want to be, anymore! And, and—!"

Reiji-san squeezed his fists tightly at his side, not able to continue his words.

_Oh. Friendship problems huh._

Akira sighed. He tipped Prince Capy's head to the side. "That's a bit sad, if it's true," he said, softly. "Why do you think she doesn't want to be your friend anymore?"

Silence, for a moment. 

One minute stretched on, then two.

Reiji clenched his fists a second time over his knees. Relaxed them.

Akira waited.

Reiji started telling his story, slowly, slowly.

He and Mio had been childhood friends, he had said, ever since they were six years old. Their families lived one apartment floor apart from each other—Mio-chan on the third floor. Rei on the second.

They always walked with each other to and from school, unless they had other standing plans with other classmates, and lightly teased each other about a robot manga series they both had followed, shared snacks they both had in their schoolbags.

They were fifth graders now, and still kept up the same habit. She was the closest friend that Reiji had ever known.

Then one day—

"She and her family got a new puppy. And she doesn't—she doesn't care to play with me anymore. It's always—Leon-chan did this, and Leon-chan did that. We might be in different schools next year—and she—she doesn't even care!"

"So, what happened after that?"

"I told her that her dog Leon-chan was as dumb as the owner, and then she called me a moron and said she wouldn't speak to me any more, and then I said 'fine! I wish you wouldn't!' and then she got mad."

"Ah." Akira paused, for one, two, three seconds. "You know why she got mad?"

Reiji nodded. "Yes." He kicked his right foot at the ground. "I was...being mean. I...I shouldn't have called her names, either."

"That's right," Akira said. He looked across the street, where Umaisagi seemed to have also finished talking with Mio. Her appearance was neater, and her expression looked significantly less furious than it was twenty minutes ago. 

"So, Reiji-san," Akira went on, looking back to the kid in front of him. "What do you want to do now?"

Five minutes later, Akira watched Reiji and Mio walk towards each other, speaking together with slightly sheepish, but smiling, expressions. 

They continued strolling down the street, this time, holding hands companionably.

Akira caught the eye of Umaisagi, and nodded.

" _Good job today,_ " Akira wrote on his signboard. 

A pause, as the bunny glanced his way. 

And held up his own signboard, which read to Akira's eyes—  
" _Same to you._ "  
  


* * *

Usually, this would be one of the days for Akira to wear the Prince Capy costume.

However—he looked at the window in the back area of the register—rain was falling outside in heavy silvery sheets, the drops drumming over the rooftop and down the walls like the jangling of a thousand tiny bells. 

There had been fewer customers at the store today—Akira could vaguely hear Nanami-san in the 777 storeroom around the back, double-checking on inventory while on the phone with their usual delivery person.

The store radio also, was playing a vaguely familiar song-something closer to a thoughtful, sweeter love ballad than the usual bubbly pop. Was it from that new Sapphire album that Akira had heard some of his classmates chatter about?

The front door of the store chimed once, cutting through Akira's thoughts.

"Welcome—" Akira said. And stopped.

It was the face of the boy he had seen before, in the Umaisagi costume. His rival 777 mascot.  
  
"Hello," the boy said. "You're. Kurusu-kun, yes?"

"How did—?"

The boy tapped at a spot at his front pocket of his jacket. 

Oh yes. Akira's nametag. Right. 

He thought it would be hard to read though, against the bright-pink-and-green color scheme of his 777 uniform. Akira was a little impressed.

"And you are—?"

"Akechi Goro." The boy—Akechi—extended his hand, the one not holding on to a rolled up umbrella. 

Akira circled around the cashier register to shake Akechi Goro's hand. With his left hand, Akira tapped his knuckles against the glass of the steamed bun display.

"There's a special on the nikuman after 5:00pm." And with an exaggerated thoughtfulness, Akira added, "It'll be my treat. Or unless—you wanted a dorayaki, free on the house?"

Akechi Goro blinked at him. Tilted back his head, and laughed, the sound light and easy. "Sure," he said, a moment later, lips still curved in a smile. "If you start tossing them into the air to juggle them, though, I'm leaving."

"Please. You can't tell me you weren't impressed, just a little." 

"Thanks for the generous treat, Kurusu-kun," Akechi answered, seemingly deliberate in skipping over Akira's retort entirely.  
  


* * *

  
A month later, 777 released a new dorayaki line on their shelves. On the front of each circle of dorayaki was the stamped image of the faces of a capybara and a bunny together.

And on the back of each package, it read in bright font:

_Prince Capy gets his wish to travel to fantastic places upon meeting a mysterious bunny wanderer, Umaisagi._

_Umaisagi, who had been on a long quest to find his kin that had been chased out of their village by frightening oni, is at first skeptical, then later glad to gain such a good, trustworthy companion as Prince Capy._

_Both of them love snacking on dorayaki treats to keep up their energy during their journeys._

_What adventures will the two of them get into next?  
  
  
_

* * *

_  
_( _6 months later, somewhere in Tokyo, a phone chimes—_ )  
  
  
**Goro:** Akira

**Goro:** Akira. Change my icon. Why do you have the picture of _that_ _rabbit_ as my face?

**Akira:** I like it. 

**Goro:** Your sense of humor still remains irreversibly juvenile, I see.

**Akira:** It reminds me of the first time we met.

**Goro:** ...

**Goro:** Don't forget about this Saturday.

**Akira:** Yes, yes. We're heading to Jinbocho, right?  
  
 **Akira:** See you at 5 after your class! I'll meet you at the train station!  
  
 **Akira:** (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡ (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡ (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡♡♡  
  


* * *

  
_the end.  
_

Fanart for their mascot costumes, drawn by me:  


**Author's Note:**

> +Your honor, they are Dating now 
> 
> +in this AU, Akechi Goro's mother is alive; Akechi is taking up part time jobs to help save up some for his later college fees, since he had taken the entrance examinations in his third year in the fall 
> 
> +this is a no-powers AU, though akira does end up in tokyo and meets his PT friends there
> 
> +Futaba's official birthday is February 19! yes, akira did save up enough so she could get that limited edition featherman gray pigeon figurine
> 
> +Nanami Shibuya is a canon in-game NPC, who is the first one to show Akiren how to work at 777; his manager's name is made-up though lol
> 
> +[Dorayaki](https://www.justonecookbook.com/dorayaki-japanese-red-bean-pancake/)\- you may have seen them before; basically light brown spongy-type cakes with a red bean filling
> 
> +[Baumkuchen: a popular cake snack in Japan that looks like a ring of cake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baumkuchen)
> 
> +[Castella: rectangular kind of sponge cake, usually not too sweet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castella) (at least the kinds i ate lol...more like a slightly sweet flavor like honey and vanilla)
> 
> +there is no doraemon mascot in persona universe sooooo, mascot competition!!!
> 
> +Umaisagi- [just a combo of 'umai' (slang for something being tasty, or being good at something)](https://justalittlejapanese.com/meaning-of-oishii-umai-what-is-the-difference/) and 'usagi'  
> idk what else to tell you /shrug
> 
> +technicalllllly, the hat the bunny mascot has [would usually be painted a dark color, like black](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasa_\(hat\)), but in terms of color contrast a dark-colored hat with dark colored fur isn't as easy to see adfasf
> 
> +明日のことをいうと天井の鼠が笑う||Speak of tomorrow and the rats in the ceiling will laugh  
> A Japanese saying. Similar to 'don't count your chickens before they hatch.'
> 
> +I imagine that as a dog breed, Leon would probably be [a Japanese Spitz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Spitz)
> 
> +this is probably the last persona 5 fic that i will write for a while; but A HUGE GRATEFUL THANK YOU to all the kind and welcoming commenters and talented fans during the period of time when persona 5 royal smacked into my braincells with shuake emotions--most of you all have been wonderful and great! probably will still be reading fics on-off here and there, thanks v much for the good memories!!


End file.
